FGCU M. Soc vs JU Recap

Wrapping up their final regular season, the FGCU men's soccer team (9-5-1, 5-1 A-SUN) pulled off a final victory as they defeated Jacksonville (4-11, 3-3 A-SUN) 4-1. With the win, the Eagles are now 10-3 against the Dolphins.

"First of all, we have the utmost respect for the JU program how they compete and play," said head coach Jesse Cormier. "So to come here, and concede early, the guys did a great job battling back to take the game back and re-establish our identity and dominate long stretches."

"I'm disappointed that we missed an opportunity to secure a first-round bye, but I'm very pleased with our performance. The result is the farthest indicative of how we played," stated head coach Mauricio Ruiz following the game. "It was a really good game against a really good Florida Gulf Coast team and we played toe to toe. When we pushed toward the end, we gave up two late goals but I'm really proud of the way the guys played. We're a really difficult team to beat, and right now we just have to find that range."

For starting goalkeepers, Cormier sent redshirt sophomore Gustavo Vasconcelos while Ruiz sent freshman Matt Levy to counter.

Not even two minutes in the first half, the Dolphins scored the first goal of the game as redshirt junior Igor Ferreira gave the Dolphins a 1-0 lead with an assist from senior Selemani Baruani. This was Ferreira's fourth goal and Baurani's second assist of the season.

23 minutes later, the Eagles would stop the Dolphins' lead as junior Shak Adams tied up the game at 1-1 with an assist from senior Raheem Somersall before the end of the first. This was Adam's eighth goal of the season and Somersall's first assist of the season.

Going into the second half, the Eagles went on a high scoring overdrive.

23 minutes into the second half, the Eagles would take the lead as senior Jason Van Achteren would rebound his own shot with an assist from Adams. This was Van Achteren's first goal of the season and first in an Eagle uniform since transferring from NCAA DII Embry-Riddle and Eastern New Mexico. In fact, it was This was the Belgian's first ever collegiate goal in his career.

For Adams, it was his eighth assist of the season.

The Onslaught of scoring from the Eagles continued with 10 minutes left as junior Miguel Perez would make it 3-1 FGCU after rebounding his own shot for his second goal of the season.

With 1:30 left on the clock, junior Ryan Medilah would seal the deal with his second goal of the season to make it 4-1 final for FGCU.

Vasconcelos would earn his ninth win after giving up the lone Dolphins goal, but finishing with two saves, and putting his overall record at 9-5-1.

"To also have three goals from guys coming off the bench made a huge difference in many ways with second-half performances from Van Achteren, Perez, Medilah and Chris Clement, combined with fantastic leadership from Gustavo, Preston, Jordan, and Kamar in the back. We have the recipe for success going into the playoffs next weekend."

Levy would end going 4-12 after the loss and finished with eight saves.

As a result of the win, the Eagles have won at least a share of the A-SUN Regular Season title for the first time since 2015. They will be listed as the #2 seed in the tournament.

With the loss to the Eagles, the Dolphins were officially the #4 seed in the A-SUN Conference tournament.

"Our conference is tight; it's anybody's game," added Ruiz. "We've been in this situation before where we've played the quarterfinal game and we know what's at stake. We're peaking at the right time and we're at our best right now so we're really comfortable facing anybody in the conference."

In the other A-SUN matchups, Lipscomb (7-9, 5-1 A-SUN) won their game against Stetson (6-9-1, 1-4-1 A-SUN) at home as they won 2-1. With the win, Lipscomb also won a share of the A-SUN Regular Season title.

UNF (4-10, 3-3 A-SUN) officially claimed the #3 seed in the A-SUN Conference tournament as they defeated NJIT 4-1.

So as it sits, the official bracket has been confirmed:
#1 Lipscomb
#2 FGCU (9-5-1, 5-1 A-SUN)
#3 UNF (4-10, 3-3 A-SUN)
#4 Jacksonville (4-11, 3-3 A-SUN)
#5 Liberty (7-6-1, 2-3-1 A-SUN)
#6 Stetson (6-9-1, 1-4-1 A-SUN)

With the loss to UNF, NJIT will not be competing the conference tournament this year and their season ends at 6-11 overall with a 1-5 record in the A-SUN.

Up Next:
The Eagles will await the winner between #3 UNF and #6 Stetson at the FGCU Soccer Complex